The California State Parks Junior Lifeguard Program is a rite of passage for many families with children growing up in Aptos, Capitola, Soquel and Santa Cruz. Blacks Beach is south of Santa Cruz at the end of 14th Avenue.

On Monday morning, a junior guard who arrived early was collecting driftwood in the middle of Blacks Beach when he found the syringe.

The kid showed it to his junior lifeguard instructor and the instructor disposed of the syringe in a sanitary manner, State Parks Lifeguard Dan Perry said.

Instructors surveyed the sand and told kids to keep their shoes on before they let the class begin. On Tuesday, junior lifeguards were back to bare feet.

Lisa Hernandez of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency reacted to the Blacks Beach incident by saying it was an isolated case, and that needles are not being found in great numbers along coastal beaches.

But Monday's discovery has many parents concerned that the drug needle problem has spread beyond Cowell Beach.

Santa Cruz's drug needle disaster came to light last winter when surf instructors ventured inside Cowell Beach's caves and found that homeless residents had turned the caves into drug dens. In May, a 12-year-old boy was pierced by a syringe tip at Cowell Beach after he found it in the sand and played with it.

In response, the City Council created and enforced an overnight curfew at Cowell Beach, built more lighting, and increased police patrols to keep addicts from shooting up on the popular beach at night.

Additionally, Street Outreach Supports, a nonprofit needle exchange group that was supplying addicts with an endless flow of needles, was clamped down on by the county. Needles are now exchanged 1-for-1 through the newly-created Santa Cruz County Syringe Services Program, located at 1080 Emeline Ave. in Santa Cruz and 9 Crestview Ave. in Watsonville.

Santa Cruz surfer Ken "Skindog" Collins goes to every City Council and county supervisor meeting to talk about the needles he finds during volunteer trash cleanups.

"The best way to stop the needles from getting to our beaches is not going out and picking them up. The best way to stop the needles is to stop giving them out in the first place," Collins said Tuesday.

Health officials are against shutting down all needle exchanges because they believe free needles help prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases.

The Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency urges anyone who finds a needle to not touch it and call them at 831-454-2160. Call 911 if it is an immediate threat to public safety.